By Viv Williams, Library Assistant and Processing Assistant
This past weekend saw the anniversary of the Mammoth Cheese, a 1235 lb. ball of 奶酪 created by the farmers of Cheshire, Massachusetts as a gift to 托马斯·杰斐逊! 在努力支付 清爽 对这样一个人 输乳 Massachusetts moment in history, I’ll be briefly highlighting some of the Society’s 奶味更浓 利记手机官网.
The first and most relevant of these 利记手机官网 is a segment of the wooden screw that once belonged to the cider press used to create the legendary Mammoth Cheese. Our records indicate this screw segment was donated to the Society anonymously around 1960. Our repository also houses a copy of Lyman H. 巴特菲尔德’s paper, “Elder John Leland, Jeffersonian Itinerant.” This paper includes a detailed account of the reasoning and planning behind the cheesy gift to Jefferson. The account boasts of a vat, six feet in diameter and twenty-one inches thick, holding “fourteen hundred weight of curd.” According to the account, 900 cows were milked for the creation of the Mammoth Cheese. It’s safe to say the citizens of Cheshire were beside themselves with pride in regards to this 乳清/泰 成就. The publication also includes a cute little ditty titled, “Ode to the Mammoth Cheese.” The opening lines read, “Most Excellent– far fam’d and far fetch’d Cheese! / Superior far in smell, 味道, 重量和尺寸, /To any ever form’d neath foreign skies…” As extravagant as these initial assertions are, I found myself most tickled by the closing lines. “All that we want or wish for in life’s hour, / Heaven still will grant us– they are only these, / Poetry–Health–Peace–Virtue–Bread and Cheese.” Forget life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness! 让他们吃奶酪!
But my 奶酪 puns don’t stop there, and neither do the 利记手机官网. I couldn’t possibly highlight MHS 利记手机官网 without mentioning the Adams family. 原来查尔斯·F. 亚当斯二世很有眼光 英国产的 奶酪. The photograph below was taken in Allemaar, Holland in 1898. 它的特点是 比切达干酪更锋利 Charles observing the operations of a 奶酪 market weighing house.
The next item on the list may find particular interest with any silversmithing enthusiasts. It is a mysteriously unidentified 芝士刀. It was found in a safe along with several other pieces of mystery silverware back in 1974. You’ll notice from the photos that there are traces of gilt on both the blade and handle.
芝士刀
The final two 利记手机官网 I have to discuss are intriguing because they are 奶酪 related in name alone, the first being the records of the Belmont, Massachusetts Cheese Club. The Cheese Club is a men’s intellectual and social club revolving around the presentation of scholarly papers. The records include meeting minutes, 对应, 成员列表, papers read at club meetings, 金融材料. I searched through the club’s documented history hoping to locate some witty and humorous explanation as to why this group would name themselves the “Cheese Club” but could only come up with a few lines that indicated large amounts of 奶酪 and ginger ale being consumed for refreshment at earlier meetings. 事实上, the group that began meeting in 1895 did not begin referring to themselves as the “Cheese Club” until 1940.
最后一项 奶酪轮 lends a shout out to environmental conservationists. It’s a printed broadside of a poem called “The Legend of ‘Cheese Rock’” written by Elizur Wright. Elizur is often recognized as the “father of life insurance,” but he had several reform interests throughout his life such as abolitionism and conservation. In the midst of bustling New England urban development in the mid-19th 世纪, Wright pushed for the preservation of forests and parks, particularly in places like Blue Hills and Middlesex Fells. He helped organize the Middlesex Fells Association which pushed for legislation to the preserve forests in the area. In order to gain support, the group hosted “Forest Festivals” throughout the area, and the aforementioned poem was written for one such occasion. The poem alludes that the hill now referred to as Winthrop Hill or “Mount Winthrop” was previously christened “Cheese Rock” after the trio, “温思罗普, 阿普, [and] Eliot” shared a meal of “simple 奶酪” there.
我希望我不是 波萝伏洛干酪 in being fascinated by these 奶酪 related objects. In queso you are interested in viewing any of these items in person in our library or have other questions about the collection, 请 参观图书馆 or contact a member of the library staff 如需进一步协助. 你不会 raclette it!